Just got a follow up email from Rutgers... about the application I sent them back in December... asking to give them more information about my research background/interests. Jesus, some of these programs move at glacial paces. If I hadn't already accepted a spot somewhere, I'd never have expected to still be under consideration at this point.

No wonder professors can never do anything quickly. They're trained in graduate school to act in geological time._________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

We've survived for years without mods... they're really overrated. Back "in the day" (see, now we'll get to talk about Keen like we used to talk about "when the forums were yellow") we just beat trolls soundly about the face and head and then ignored them.

We don't really need rating systems (we know who the idiots are) and karma (in this sense) is entirely subjective and thus open to as much abuse as "moderatorship". Having mod'd for talkcity.com "professionally" in the past, I'll just say that less oversight is better than more, IMHO, and there's a reason I'm not there but have stayed here. The forum will sink or float based on the quality of our combined contributions, not the ability of a few individuals to keep the extremes at bay. That just guarantees us mediocrity.

My $.02

Could you elaborate on this a little? I'd like to know a little more about your background / interests before I consider your $.02 cents in more detail.

I just signed up to take the GRE. Everything about my situation suggests that this is the best way to approach things, but dear fuck that doesn't make it seem any less miserable.

Good luck. The nice thing about the GRE is that since it's computerized, you get your results *immediately*

That said, the computerized GRE is *DIFFERENT* than the SAT. Most important:

DO NOT EVER. EVER. SKIP A QUESTION. *ALWAYS* answer, even if you don't know. You are not penalized for guessing like on the SAT, and the way the test works is that the questions get 'harder' (but worth more points) the more questions you get right.

Second: A lot of the practice software has the questions in 'sets': All the analogies, all the reading questions, etc etc. Even on their practice tests. It is *not* like this on the actual GRE, and the software *does not* do a good job explaining that to you.

Hence, when I took the GRE, and the questions in the reading section weren't following a particular order, my brain went "Oh! This must be the experimental section, the one they won't be grading. I'll just be calm and not agonize over every decision."
(IT WAS THE REAL READING SECTION. ... Granted, I, uh, still managed to get a 790, so perhaps mistaking it for the experimental section was a GOOD thing...)

Good luck! I should also note this was waaaay back in 2008 or so, so a lot may have changed since then._________________"No, but evil is still being --Is having reason-- Being reasonable! Mousie understands? Is always being reason. Is punishing world for not being... Like in head. Is always reason. World should be different, is reason."
-Ed, from Digger

Good luck. The nice thing about the GRE is that since it's computerized, you get your results *immediately*

That said, the computerized GRE is *DIFFERENT* than the SAT. Most important:

DO NOT EVER. EVER. SKIP A QUESTION. *ALWAYS* answer, even if you don't know. You are not penalized for guessing like on the SAT, and the way the test works is that the questions get 'harder' (but worth more points) the more questions you get right.

Second: A lot of the practice software has the questions in 'sets': All the analogies, all the reading questions, etc etc. Even on their practice tests. It is *not* like this on the actual GRE, and the software *does not* do a good job explaining that to you.

Hence, when I took the GRE, and the questions in the reading section weren't following a particular order, my brain went "Oh! This must be the experimental section, the one they won't be grading. I'll just be calm and not agonize over every decision."
(IT WAS THE REAL READING SECTION. ... Granted, I, uh, still managed to get a 790, so perhaps mistaking it for the experimental section was a GOOD thing...)

Good luck! I should also note this was waaaay back in 2008 or so, so a lot may have changed since then.

Good to know, and thank ya. Know literally nothing about the test and I'm taking it on Tuesday. SHOULD BE FUN._________________The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.

You might want to double check that "don't skip anything" thing. They released a new GRE in 2011, with a new scoring system._________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

+++My life finally has direction again. (New life goal: Become an Art Professor at a college)
+It feels AWESOME.
-Shitshitshit there is so much to do.
---OHMYGOD PORTFOLIOS ARE EVIL.
-Where the fuck is all my artwork anyway.
+I can make NEW ART!

-Why are burnt out houses so damned hard to draw.
+Yay drawing again.
++-This comic is going to get drawn if it kills me._________________Samsally the GrayAce

+++My life finally has direction again. (New life goal: Become an Art Professor at a college)
+It feels AWESOME.
-Shitshitshit there is so much to do.
---OHMYGOD PORTFOLIOS ARE EVIL.
-Where the fuck is all my artwork anyway.
+I can make NEW ART!

-Why are burnt out houses so damned hard to draw.
+Yay drawing again.
++-This comic is going to get drawn if it kills me.

Let me know if you want to come practice your art teaching skillz on a group of preschoolers. I figure you should start small before you get up to college kids._________________Eureka00: "Reminding you of your addictions" since 1982.

Joined: 01 Oct 2006Posts: 9123Location: The thing in itself that is Will

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:24 pm Post subject:

+/- the old trope that once you have a girlfriend girls basically throw themselves at you is really, really true.
++ Luckily, my GF is awesome, and although long distance sucks, she'll be here for in a week. And then not for a month and a half
-- this means that me being lonely in a foreign country basically needs to stop hanging out with the only people I hang out with. Actually, everyone in this program seems miserable and lonely.

+ found a job
- as a dishwasher
++ perhaps there are some better jobs coming up!_________________When life gives you lemons, some people make lemonade. I just eat them and make a sour face.

Once you have a job other jobs will throw themselves at you._________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

+/- My wife and I are splitting up.
+/- We are still living together until we can afford the divorce.
+ We still get along/no screaming at each other.
+/- This week she is going to start meeting guys for dating.

Yeah, life is pretty weird right now.

Wow. I hope you guys are able to be sensible about this. Glad to see it in the mixed bag thread rather than horrors. Good luck to both of you, I guess?

We've survived for years without mods... they're really overrated. Back "in the day" (see, now we'll get to talk about Keen like we used to talk about "when the forums were yellow") we just beat trolls soundly about the face and head and then ignored them.

We don't really need rating systems (we know who the idiots are) and karma (in this sense) is entirely subjective and thus open to as much abuse as "moderatorship". Having mod'd for talkcity.com "professionally" in the past, I'll just say that less oversight is better than more, IMHO, and there's a reason I'm not there but have stayed here. The forum will sink or float based on the quality of our combined contributions, not the ability of a few individuals to keep the extremes at bay. That just guarantees us mediocrity.

My $.02

Could you elaborate on this a little? I'd like to know a little more about your background / interests before I consider your $.02 cents in more detail.

We have a rating system afaik: it's the giddy thread. & karma too, it's called the Sinnies ... awwww damn ... I knew I'd forgotten to do something ...

A picture of his abs wouldn't go astray though. I mean, how do we know if he's telling the truth about his body fat?_________________Once, at a local NOW meeting where I was the only male among about a dozen women, a feminism trivia contest was held. I came in third.

Wow. I hope you guys are able to be sensible about this. Glad to see it in the mixed bag thread rather than horrors. Good luck to both of you, I guess?

Yeah, and we are even maintaining a friendship so far. We'll sit down and watch Doctor Who together(though not necessarily next to each other), talk about the horrors of interacting with strangers on OKCupid, and even do something together for each other's birthday. It's definitely weird, but I'll take weird over kicking and screaming any day.